Peter Pan: The Land Beyond
by Soultakers
Summary: Based on the 2003 Movie. Peter Pan is fed up with the pain and loneliness and leaves his island to find adventure amongst the other islands of Neverland but what he may find may change everything he believes in. Peter/OC.
1. Prologue

::Disclaimer and better Summary::

I do NOT own Peter Pan, none of the movies, books, games and shows. I am a simple fan with a simple vision of my own. However, this fanfic does have a character that belongs to me and will eventually be put into one of my novels so please take consideration if you like the character too much. This fanfic is about Peter Pan leaving his home island in Neverland to look for adventure. His home, now at peace, he takes on a journey towards the other islands in Neverland and comes to one that has an adventure that will change his life. Wanting to escape the pain and loneliness Wendy has left him in he comes across a war with creatures he didn't think existed in Neverland until now. Will he be able to escape his past? His feelings for Wendy? And stop a war that has been existing for hundred years?

Prologue:

I landed on the ledge of the old brick building next to the window of the nursery room, the sky dark and littered with stars. No one in the city below was awake and around the wall, the window was shut with only the faint glow of candlelight shining through. Two beds were missing on either side of the room, the only one remaining being the one that once belonged to Wendy, but the sight of her beneath the covers no longer met my eyes; there is another. My heart was racing, aching from how quickly it pounded beneath my chest because all I could see in my mind was her, now aged and with a man at her side, her husband. The man that took my place.

For years, I've came to this very window and watched Wendy and the Lost Boys grow, those years aging me very little, but enough to know that coming back hurt each time and going back to Neverland was just as painful.

The door to the nursery opened and I stepped out of sight, hiding behind the wall. After a few seconds, I peeked around the corner to see the much older Wendy tucking in her daughter, a man standing in the doorway watching them both fondly. I felt frozen, my mind scrambled with thoughts of hurting that man, my hand subconsciously moving to the hilt of my blade. I wanted to take Wendy away again, but out adventures will never be the same.

I could feel the sadness in my heart and it felt the same as it did the night I left them all, but this time I was leaving this window for good. Closing my eyes, I listened to our childish laughter for the last time.

"Goodbye Wendy." I whispered before stepping back off of the ledge, taking flight into the night air and heading for the second star on the right.


	2. Chapter 1: The Forest Natives

Chapter 1: The People of the Forest.

Peter and Tinkerbell had been flying since morning, leaving Wendy's house and the hideout far behind them. The island was left in peace since the death of Hook, his crewmen fled in all directions and the island and its natives were free from torment. Though the Indians went on and the faeries celebrated, for years and years, Peter was left in loneliness. Without Wendy and the Lost Boys his adventures had died completely. Wendy and the boys moved on with their lives, having families, getting jobs and growing old – this was not what Peter wanted and neither was the agonizing pain of coming back to the hideout with just Tinkerbell to console him.

Many islands passed under them, big and small and all in different shapes with different sights but none interested the two, none caught their attention and imagination or their thrill for adventure. They had been flying for hours, the sun high in the sky and the ocean nearly bare of any life except for a large island that was near in the horizon, but before the two could explore it, they rested their bodies on the white fluff of a cloud above the island's shore.

Peter gazed upon the island with its glory; luscious green forests with trees as tall as buildings, mountains that shadowed the sun when it slept and beautiful blue waterfalls, but an island so grand has its own adventures that even Peter will need to store all his energy for.

There, before Peter and Tinkerbell sat a small city on the shore of the island. Boats docked at the decks that reminded Peter of Hook's ship, but the people were not dressed like pirates. What troubled Peter was the amount of adults that co-existed in the city. His green eyes wandered and counted the sums of the children in the city who played in the streets and followed their parents, some dirty and ragged, most likely forgotten just as he was, but while he watched them, he caught an unfamiliar view; near one of the decks stood a stage a few feet off the ground with a boy and a man standing before a gathering crowd.

The boy stood straight, his hands tied behind his back and his head down, eyes shut as if he were trying to escape reality before him and the man, tall and tattered with scars and muscles stood next to him with a rope dangling from his fists. Wanting to get a better view, Peter grabbed his telescope from his vine belt, opened it and took in the view. The rope was being tied into a noose and the tall man next to the young boy looped it over his head.

Peter stood from his spot, pocketed his telescope and unsheathed his sword. "Tink, they're going to hang that boy!" He shouted and leaped off the cloud down to one below until finally diving down towards the stage. With a swift turn, Peter kicked the tall man off the stage and down onto the cobblestone sidewalk. Landing next to the boy, he twisted and cut the rope free from the pole it dangled from. "Go before they get you." Peter said while pushing the boy to awake him from his escape.  
>But the boy didn't leave, he looked at Peter with confusion, with such big, wide eyes that had Peter curious as to why this boy was being hanged in the first place, but then he noticed the slightest difference from this boy than the crowd around them. This boy had long, odd shaped ears; pointed in a sharp tip that moved with every loud shriek the crowd made.<p>

Peter watched curiously as they flickered like Tink's wings, but the more he watched, the more the crowd grew angry and the quicker the tall man would stand back up to come for them. He sheathed his sword and took out his knife, cutting the boy's hands free from the ropes that had him hostage and the moment his hands were free, the boy leaped down from the opposite side of the stage and ran off towards the forest. Peter followed with Tink close behind; he needed to escape just as much as the boy did. The city was riddled with adults and now all hated him for such a daring rescue.

Peter kept to the speed of the boy, flying near him as he raced around the obstacles of trees, bushes, logs and branches. "Why were they going to hang you?" He asked.  
>The boy looked back for just a moment to the boy who saved him from death but he stopped in his tracks for the boy was flying without wings. He pointed to Peter and with shocked eyes and voice he shouted, "You are flying!" The boy stumbled back and nearly fell before catching himself.<p>

"I am," Peter crossed his arms and grinned pridefully, "And I also saved your life, now tell me, why were you going to be hanged and what are you?"  
>Tinker Bell flew around the boy's head, getting a good look at him too. She didn't have an opinion on him yet, but he didn't look like the people in the city. The boy waved his hands around his head as the tiny fairy flew by and landed on Peter's shoulder.<br>"I was going to be hanged because I am an elf." The boy replied.

"An elf? I have never heard of such things."  
>"You have never heard of an elf before? Do you not live on this land or of this world?" The boy threw up his hands in surprise.<p>

"I am of this world, but not of this land. I came from an island far off in the horizon where pirates, Indians and faeries live." Peter pointed off in the direction they had come running from. "I came here in hope for adventure." His grin faded and he looked stern, his eyes sizing up this unfamiliar creature.  
>"From another island?" The elf asked, his brown eyebrows furrowing together while he thought about this, "But you can fly and you are human, you are a threat."<p>

"I can fly because the faeries gave me this gift; I am not like any normal boy." Peter said with distaste. He was not normal and he liked it such.

"There is no adventure here, just war; war between us elves and the humans." The elf turned on his heels and walked on, but not without Peter following behind him.

"So they were going to kill you because you are an elf?"

"Yes, the humans hate and fear our kind because we are born of nature and magic. We can have children that can age and they cannot." The elf said, his hands following his movements very artistically.

"No one can age in Neverland." Peter argued with anger in his tone.

"We age only until about 18 to 19, some go to about 24, but then we live looking that age for the rest of our lives unless we are killed and many of us have been by the humans only four clans exist of us now."

Peter and Tinkerbell followed him through the thick forest and into the mountain mass until the three came to a city in the trees. Peter landed next to the boy as they approached, his eyes full of curiosity and wander – houses built in the trees just as his hideout, but these were built high onto branches with bridges that other creatures with long ears walked on.

"This is my home, I don't think the elder will want you here." The elf said, turning to Peter and as he did, a group of adult elves came up to them all with bows and arrows in their hands pointed towards Peter and Tinkerbell.

Peter grabbed a hold of the handle of his sword, but with the young elf stepping between them, he kept it sheathed. The young elf turned to the adults and spoke in a language Peter had never heard before and soon enough, the adults lowered their bows and glared over Peter's presence.

"Lythin says you saved him from being hung," one of the adults said. His eyes were aged with experience, but his body indeed, looked like a young adult. "But we do not let any human exist amongst us."

Peter began to notice a crowd of these creatures formed around them once they lowered their bows. They were curious about Peter just as much he was of them. A boy, so young and dressed in dead leaves with a fairy so close was at their village. He was obviously not from the city, for they dressed in clothing like pilgrims and instead of swords, they carried pistols.

"But there is nowhere for him to go; he saved me in front of the humans. If he goes back, they will sure hang him too." Lythin pleaded.

"We can't have him living here, it is too dangerous and he may as well be a spy." The adult elf then turned his attention to Peter. "Us letting you live is payment enough, we kill humans on the spot."

Peter released the handle of his sword and examined the crowd. None of them seemed threatening, some even looked very nice, but then his eyes caught a view he hadn't ever seen before. Through a gap in the crowd, he saw a young girl about his age with long black hair and green eyes so bright that the leaves of the trees were jealous of their beauty. She paid no mind to the crowd and simply walked by, but her presence had his heart fluttering. He knew of no person who was more beautiful than her.

All the sadness and loneliness within his heart that he felt when Wendy left vanished in the blink of an eye just from watching this girl pass by, but once out of sight, his heart dulled again and all the pain he felt came flooding back.

Peter was never one to give up, he needed no society to live in. He made his own hideout and brought the Lost boys to him and he knew he could do it again. He looked up at the adult elf and gave him a nod. "I need no help from an adult."

He stepped out of the crowd and turned one last time to wave good bye to Lythin, the elven boy he saved.


	3. Chapter 2: Set her free

Chapter 2: Set her free

It didn't take but a day before I found the perfect home. Like the hideout before this one, this home was within a large tree with thick branches that went skyward and a canopy that shadowed the ground. After weeks of carving, there were rooms upon rooms to place inside all of the great treasures I will find on my new adventures, but I did not want venture alone.

For months and months I went back to that city within the forest where the natives watched vigorously for humans that might approach with bows and arrows prepared for shooting. Never had I seen such skill as they had, from a mile they could shoot a deer all due to their ears and eyes. But I didn't come back to this city every night to watch them shoot at animals; I came back for the girl with green eyes.

I hid behind the trunks of trees, shadowed in the canopies all to watch her sing and dance around the fire in the middle of the city where young elves watched her frolic. Her eyes glowed with life and her smile so bright that all that pain I felt before I came to this island failed as it had before when I saw her walk by.

I had seen that smile once before, so warm and loving that it washed away any pain I felt when I was boy, a mother's smile – before they decided I was to grow up. I touched my lips and wondered where that smile came from.

Her voice sang lovely lullabies that I would fall asleep in the canopies while I listened near her window hidden within the leaves. She sang in a language I had never heard, but the words were so soothing that I felt I could understand.

During the day, I would venture into the human city and sneak the young orphan boys from the streets, whose clothes were dirty and littered with holes. These children were like those in London, abandoned and forgotten, living off of the trash that had been left by the streets, but all were different ages, the youngest being only three and the oldest being a year younger than me. By a month, I had the only few orphan boys I could find living with me at the hideout, following my every command and venturing with me through the forests just as the Lost Boys once did. Their laughter filled my heart with renewed happiness as I led them into caves with my sword held up high in search for treasures.

Having the boys at my side filled me with pride and joy, but every night when I came to her window to listen to her sing, I knew I wouldn't be satisfied until she was mine and the boys' mother just as Wendy had been. When I listened to her voice, nothing of the past came to mind, not Wendy or her husband, their child, all was lost from my memory and it brought back my strength I was close to forgetting.

Tinkerbell often followed me to her window, but she stayed hidden behind me so her light wouldn't alert the elven girl or the hunters down below. Tinkerbell would dance to some of her songs as if she understood the language I didn't and she glowed brighter than I had ever seen, but once the elf stopped, Tink's light dimmed to normal and she lied comfortably next to me as we both would fall asleep.

I knew she would be perfect as a mother to the boys, but my heart ached. I, Peter Pan, was afraid to bring her to them, that she may leave us just as Wendy did….

I sit on the same branch I have every night. Tink and I both watch the flutter of the stars through the small gaps in the canopy while we both wait for our nightly songs that lull us into the purest of sleeps. However, she's unusually late tonight, her bedroom empty of her presence with only the light from the candles burning the shadows away from the crevices.

I release a sigh from irritation. I want to investigate, but the hunters would catch me the second I fly from the branches for they are just below her bedroom and are on constant look out. The elven girl was the city elder's daughter. From what I heard through the nights of watching her, she is my age and storyteller, but I didn't understand half of the stories that she told for they were in her language.

The door to her room bursts open, startling Tink and I enough to almost fall from our branch. We both duck our heads underneath the brush of the canopy and watch intently as the elven girl storms into her room with her tiny fists at her sides. An expression we never saw on her face before strongly unfolds; anger.

Tink and I glance at one another before we hear a voice that catches us off guard. A man walks into the room with his hands together infront of him. "Now, Lahona, this is for the better for both you and the clan." He sighs before continuing, "Marion is a good hunter and has led his clan into great prosperity. You two marrying will allow our clans to finally unite."

"But I do not love him." She softly speaks, "I do not even know him." Her fists begin to shake, her body following in their actions.

I forget how to breathe; she is to be married to another man. Taken from me, from this window where I listen to her sing. My heart begins to hurt, burning and aching. I want to yell no, but I don't want to be seen. My lips curl and my eyes feel heavy and sting as tears well up in the corners.

"Lahona, you don't have a choice, I already agreed. Think about the clan, there is no one here you wish to be with and no one I am willing to give your hand too. You will marry Marion." He threatens, but with only silence coming from his daughter, he leaves her alone in her bedroom and closes the door behind him.

Falling to her knees, her fists clung to the ground as the long lengths of her hair fell around her like a waterfall, surrounding her. I want to reach to her, to take her away just like I did with Wendy, but I know enough of these people that they fear and hate them – humans. She may as well consider me one.

I want to get up, fly over to her father and slay him on the spot for putting her through this and make sure she is never wed to someone – so that no man takes her away.

A couple hours pass before she falls asleep on her bed near the window. She didn't sing tonight, she fell asleep crying and asking herself why she has to live in a life in chains. I watch the hunters below impatiently, they both move from their position to take watch elsewhere. Before another hunter had time to come back, I leap from the branch to the window sill, landing silently in the darkness of the room.

I stop all movements, catching Tinkerbell in a hollow fist from making any sounds when I see her shifting in her bed. She rolls over and all goes quiet, I release Tink and step onto the cold wood floor. I hover over to her bedside to keep as quiet as possible and watch her sleep in silence, like a doll her breathing is hard to hear.

I reach out to her, softly moving a lock of black hair from her sleeping face and the images of a man sleeping next to her flashes in my vision. I stumble back, my hand grasping the handle of my sword but the image is gone when I look back to where she sleeps.

My heart is still beating as quickly as a faeries wings and I realize what I need to do. I don't want to lose another; I don't want to be alone with just the boys. I need her to be there, to be a mother to the boys who were forgotten – to me.

"Tink, keep watch." I whisper, our eyes meeting for a second and it was enough to tell my friend what I have planned to do. She flits over to the window sill and watches the ground for the hunters. I am glad she doesn't hate Lahona like she did Wendy, but I feel it has something to do with her singing. Tink hasn't mentioned it once out of the months we have come to visit, but I didn't want to ask.

I look down at my hands, they are stained with dirt and I contemplate if I should even try. I don't want to get her dirty, but I don't want to wake her. She'll forgive me; I will be taking her from all her problems to freedom and adventure. I shrug and bury my hands underneath her thin form. Lifting her was easy and she is lighter than I can imagine, but the moment I pressed her against my chest, she began to move.

I stiffen - my eyes wide and watching her as she shuffles in my arms, her own wrap around my neck and have me off guard. My hearts races again, but not from pain and my face heats up, even my ears feel warm.

A few seconds pass and she doesn't budge, but my heart continues to beat like a drum and Tink starts to ring like a bell. I look over to her to see her little self fluttering about before I lick my bottom lip and hover from the ground to fly out of the bedroom window with her in my arms. 


	4. Chapter 3: Kidnapped

Chapter 3: Kidnapped. Lahona's POV

I dream of an endless sea of darkness, shrouded in cold and despair. This world is a lonely world where no happiness shines its brilliant light onto me, but watches from afar. Even in my sleep, my father's words buzz in my ears, '_you will be married'._ I do not have a choice – such is the burden of being the daughter of an elder, I must take responsibility at such a young age.

I touch my fingers to my upper arms, chilled from the very numbness the cold has provided and though I feel so alone, so abandoned and betrayed, I can hear the faintest of the sweetest sound. An airy lullaby playing in the distance, but I look around and the darkness is just as endless as before. I take soft steps in this and that direction, begging silently to myself for the noise to get louder because my heart has never told me before now that I am going to be okay.

The smooth tone grows louder and louder and I squint my eyes in a direction where I can see the faintest of lights. I run and run, trying to get to this light that my heart speaks of, but before I can reach it, I awake….

I open my eyes to unfamiliar scenery, the wood of the ceiling is lighter than that of my bedroom and the bed I feel beneath me isn't the soft silks made of the fine giant spider webs my people sew themselves. My head throbs; most likely from all of the crying, but through the aching, I can still hear that fine melody that saved me from my dream. My heart still races, light as a feather, I have never felt it like this before. As I lean up, the bed crunches underneath me, causing me to glance where I had been sleeping only to see that the bed wasn't really a bed at all, but a large stump covered in leaves.

My ears lower in slight disgust – I can sleep on leaves, but in a room I have never seen before? Where am I? I look around, but it is too dark to familiarize what the blurred objects are and the only light that can guide me was coming from a badly carved window the size of a man near the right side of the bed. It was also where the melody was coming from. I know this sound, not from my dream, but from the other fae creatures of Neverland. Faeries play this instrument, as do the mermaids, but through shells – the pan flute.

I gingerly crawl off the bed, fists at my side and ready to charge, but the sound of such music was too charming to have me alert. The closer I got to the window, the more I realized how high up I was. Just a few feet back, you can see a vast ocean, flourishing tree tops below and a thick branch going outward towards them. I pop my head out the window and there next to me is a young human playing the flute.

I squealed so loud that the boy rolled right off of the branch. I stumble back into the room with my hands on my chest and my eyes wide. The sound of the flute stopped and was replaced by the sound of a soft bell. A brief moment passes and then the boy that had fallen stepped onto the branch, walking to me with a smile that fell the moment he took a look at me, but before he can get a word in, I point at him, my hand shaking. "You just fell!" I shout.

The boy's smile returns, but this smile was large and full of pride. He ties the flute I had heard moments ago to a vine-like belt and steps down into the room. I lurch back, my fingers touching the cool surface of a wall behind me and I remember, I am not at home and I have no idea where I am.

"Where am I? Who are you? And why am I here?" I question, already forgetting that I just saw this boy fall as I reclaim my strength before shock settled in.

The boy's expression turns, as if he had just realized something himself. He gracefully bows before me, but his green-blue eyes never leave their gaze from mine and when he stands straight, a bright ball of light flies from the window and around his head. The bright ball chimes like a small bell and I quickly notice that it is a tiny faerie… but with a human?

"I brought you here. I took you away from your father so you don't have to be married." He says confidently.

"H-how…" I look around me once again, there has to be an explanation, but there are no answers to be had by simply looking. "How do you know I am to be wed?" I am sure no one was in the room with my father and I when we discussed this topic and even so, how would a human know?

"I was listening from the window." He shrugs; he rests his hands on his hips that are covered by a fine layer of skeleton leaves and vines – the leaves trailed up his chest, partially covering his tan skin. He is young; thirteen, maybe fourteen and his eyes change colors faintly with his mood, so far green to blue, blue to green.

I snap out of gazing into his eyes, '_he's human,'_ I repeat to myself in my mind before shaking my head. "You listened? Why…Why would you be listening from my window?" I feel horrified, a human so easily watching me from my bedroom window with guards below. What did he see, hear…what did he do? My face scrunches up from the very idea of such thoughts, but he is just a boy, there couldn't be much he could do…could there?

All signs of happiness melt from his face, leaving nothing behind but disappointment. "Aren't you happy you won't have to do adult things?"

"Yeah, but you kidnapped me." I place my hands on my hips now, challenging his words fearlessly. I am an elf, I will not let some human boy put fear in me, but there isn't anything to fear. Looking him over, he is but a child, a boy. Cheeks dusted with dirt, eyes wide and curious even in their disappointment, hair disheveled and his posture straight and strong; nothing like the humans of this island.

Dropping my hands in defeat, I realize that this place is better than being married to a man I don't even know, but this was still all too scattered for any real comfort. "What is your name?" I ask softly.

His face brightens back up instantly and a strange grin crosses his lips. "I am Peter, Peter Pan." The little ball of light flutters next to Peter's shoulder, chiming away and speaking in her faerie language to Peter. I am surprised to see that he understands while he nods to her. "This is Tinkerbell, she's my friend."

"I have never seen, in my long years of living, a fairy speaking to a human. You must be of great importance."

"Yeah, I am pretty great." His grin grows and a light, cheerful air vibes off him.

"This explains it," I mention, "How you did not fall when I startled you." I point to the window, remembering clearly him rolling off the branch the moment I popped my head out.

"I wasn't startled!" He shouts, his hands thrusting to his sides in a fit of childish rage, "I just made room for you to walk onto the branch!" He claims.

Even a child could tell that he was making this up, but his little fit has me giggling. "I see, I see. It is faerie dust that allows you to fly."

"I can fly with or without faerie dust." Tinkerbell chimes next to him again. "She can make you fly as long as you think happy thoughts."

"Oh no, no, no. My feet are staying on the ground." Having the fear of heights is a disadvantage to an elf since we live high in the trees. I am not so much afraid of heights as long as I know the ground is secure that I stand on, but to fly? Never.

"So do you just go to every window you see and listen in on a person's personal conversation?" I ask as I begin to wander the room, my fingers touching the walls and a few stumps here and there that had little gadgets on top of them. Mostly knives and carved wooden figures, my eyes could hardly pick up the shapes even with Tinkerbell's light on the other side of the room.

"No, just yours." He shrugs, "You should come meet the boys! I've told them so much about you."

My ears fall at the sound of that. More humans? About me? I glare over at him as he walks over to me. Compared to me, he was a good few inches taller. "Just how long have you been watching me?" I place my hands to my hips again and try to sound angry, but his curious blue eyes and playful smile pushes my anger away.

"For a few months now. I saw you in your city when I followed an elven boy home after saving him. I came back to learn about you, but when I heard you sing, I couldn't stop coming back every night." He grasps my right hand in a soft hold, surprising for a boy who just kidnaps elven girls and follows little boys home.

"My singing?" He leads me to a door that looks like the bark of a tree ripped straight off its body and over to a ladder that had been crudely hammered into the trunk that went down to a much larger room.

He turns to me and nods, "I never heard someone sing like you. I fell asleep every night hearing you sing. I told the boys that you were the one, the one that'd tell us stories and sing to us when we can't sleep."

"So you were planning on taking me in the first place even without knowing my father was forcing me into an arranged marriage." I tug my hand away from him and give him a critical look, my eyebrow raising and my eyes trying to read his, but he flashes puppy eyes in my direction with his big blue gaze and his pouty lips slightly open.

"No – well, maybe. I just never thought out when. Then I heard your father telling you that you were to be married and I saw how much it hurt you. I wanted to take you away so you wouldn't have to feel that pain anymore and so you can be free."

He is good. His puppy eyes don't even turn for a second. I have no fight against him even if he is human. I sigh and wave a hand to clear the air. "Alright, you win. Take me to your boys." 


	5. Chapter 4: Without a mother

A/N: Sorry I keep changing the point of view, it is just easier for me detail at the moment. I am really terrible at first person and am trying to get better so I am doing some chapter in first person with the characters I feel would need it the most. Thanks.

Chapter 4: Without a Mother (Third Person)

Peter, Tinkerbell and Lahona all waited in a large, round room littered with junk. The only real furniture was a rectangular table in the middle of the room with three seats on both sides and a crudely made throne at one end against a wall. Candles lit up the room, hanging off of little ledges carved on the trunk of the tree, their white wax dripping down and drying like icicles with a few smaller ones sitting in the middle of the long table. Wooden carvings of the animals of Neverland were piled up on small tables against the walls, along with their wooden shavings no one cared to sweep up and throw away.

When Peter mentioned boys, she had thought of younger boys and at least an adult or two, but no adult with a right mind would allow a house to be in such disarray. Not only was the room a mess, but there was a barrel full of swords off in the corner and spears, axes and bows lying about against the walls. She gave Peter a disbelieving look, but the young boy was too preoccupied with what he had planned.

He crowed loudly with his hands cupping his lips before looking over to Lahona with a pleased smile. The sound of shuffling and racing could be heard in separate rooms attached to this one large one and from four different doors, four boys came running out. They all gathered in a straight line from shortest to tallest with their hands at their sides and backs straight with their heads held high. They acted so calm until the one next to the shortest began to giggle. Peter shot a glare over to him and immediately the boy stopped – well, until Peter began to chuckle a little also then the rest followed except the tallest boy at the end.

You see, each one of these boys was different, very different and only one of them had seen an elf up close before and that was the tallest at the end. He was very level headed and kept an eye on the younger boys while Peter was gone on his own adventures or at night when he left without warning to watch over Lahona. He looked just thirteen with faded blonde hair that disheveled itself down to his ears and brown eyes full of mystery. He did not like elves, for he grew up believing they were cruel and heartless creatures, but who could blame him when he lived in a society that thought such of their rivals. Before Peter, this boy lived on the streets working for the adults with nowhere to go – or so he claims. His name was Nick.

Now, the second tallest was one who often missed out on adventures with the boys. Being obedient to Peter, he does his chores with patience, but was very clumsy. Not wanting to disappoint, he redoes anything he messes up until it is perfect and because of this, his thrilling adventures are limited. He is very humble for his age, being merely ten years old with short, rich brown hair and jungle green eyes. He tries hard to not fiddle with the ends of his torn up shirt, nervous about making a good impression for the beautiful young lady Peter brought to them. His name is Rets.

The third youngest boy, whose name explained him in full, was quite sneaky and mischievous. Naming himself after his favorite animal, the Weasel, he often surprised Peter. When the mermaids can't keep Peter interested with hollow gossiping, Weasel can talk about the strangest of things, so much so that some would hardly believe anything the boy says, but he always pretended to know what everything was. His black, unnaturally spiky hair and brown eyes made him look like a wild child on the loose, especially since he always had dirt on his hands, knee caps and just about anywhere flesh could be seen through his torn clothes. His wide grin could not be compared, though his eight year old demeanor tricked even the oldest of adults.

Lastly and surely the smallest, Pint was the young three year old whose dark auburn hair and hazel eyes captured the hearts of even the fearless warriors in the city. He was abandoned at a young age when his mother died and father felt he was too much to handle. No one would be able to see, but this child was quite intelligent, always asking questions, always curious and always learning, but other than asking these questions, he remains quiet and watches carefully and fully, seeing things that the others tended to miss. His hazel eyes gazed up at Lahona, his eyebrows rising.

"You are the elf girl Peter always talks about." Little Pint said, his finger pointing up at her and no one to tell him that it's rude.

Lahona looked around, there has to be more, a girl or two? A parent, anyone? But no one else entered the room from any of the five connected doors. It was almost as if Lahona hadn't heard the little Pint talking to her, as if she was still in shock or even used to people pointing at her, but she looked at each boy in full examination of what Peter had for her. "Are there no parents?"

"No!" Peter shouted. He placed his hands back on his hips and turned to Lahona with his back straight to show he needed no adults. "We never want to grow up, never want to be told what to do or take responsibility. We just want to play, live and have fun." The boys all nodded, agreeing with their fearless captain.

"Yet you want me here for?" She asked, all she knew was that he wanted her to there to sing and to tell stories, but was that really all? She wouldn't mind just doing that because escaping an arrangement she didn't want was freedom without cost.

Peter glanced over his shoulders at the boys and as if on cue, they all got down to their knees except the tallest, placed their hands in front of them and pulled out their best puppy eyes. "Please be our mother." They begged in unison.

Lahona was surprised at this little scene, but not as surprised as she felt when Peter looked back at her from the boys with his coy smile crossing his lips. Oh! Now she knew, he planned this, oh yes he did and how he'll get a finger wagging when the boys weren't around to see but for now, she placed on her best smile and nodded to the younger boys.

"I will be the first to admit, I wasn't expecting to be a mother to five human boys, but this –"

"Four." Lahona was interrupted by Peter. "Four boys. I am their father and as their father, I will be handling their punishment and making sure they do whatever you tell them." He crosses his arms against his chest.

Now this was interesting, but intriguing none the less. She looked over the room, the boys and then thought over her only choices. Home…where she'd be chained for all eternity to man she doesn't know, where she will be used to keep their clans united or here…with human boys who didn't fear her, who were still innocent and could be taught right from wrong and whose captain, or father, was a child himself.

She didn't need to weigh her options, she knew from the bottom of her heart what she needed to do and her smile grew with warmth unmatched by even the sun. "Alright, but if I am to live here, there will be changes."


End file.
